


Ahsoka's Command

by Merfilly



Series: A New Order [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka is growing up fast, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, blame the chip, maybe save everyone, stop the chip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-13 22:32:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7140287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts with a plan, a plan to take the injured and make them both better in health and in skill. Then the plan goes sideways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ahsoka's Command

Ahsoka Tano was uncertain of her new life, yet she found herself carrying even more responsibility to the _Vod'e_ than ever. After the Council meeting, she had been certain she could never trust Plo or Obi-Wan again, and yet both had participated in the effort to get her not only away from Coruscant but on this small planetoid, none too far from Kamino itself, with a growing battalion of the _Vod'e_.

Oddly enough, it was Shaak Ti, whom she had felt riding her hardest in the Council meeting, that was bringing the brothers to her.

"You were united with the other Masters, I could feel it," Ahsoka finally said, an outburst triggered by Shaak Ti offering her spiced jerky from Shili.

Shaak Ti's lekku stilled and she changed to the trilling, whistling language of their people to keep this private from the clone troopers, men that all but worshiped both of them for different reasons. "I felt your answers left far too much ambiguity to be certain of your innocence. I mistook that for guilt, instead of seeing that you, little huntress, had found a different path to unity with the Force. I was wrong, as Plo has made me aware of with no uncertainty.

"I wish, young sister, to begin anew with you, for you are very much a part of the future that is needed."

Ahsoka could feel her pride demand she rebuff it, but that was not the person she was; it was leftover pieces of being a child.

Child no longer, she vowed to herself, and she answered Shaak Ti. "You are my kin in spirit, my elder sister of the hunt, and we may know peace," she said, using the formal words of truce and treaty in their language. She then accepted the treat; she hadn't had Shili jerky in a very long time.

"You are to teach them how to defend themselves against the Sith, to train them so that they will not die so easily to the likes of Dooku or Ventress," Shaak Ti said of the growing battalion. "These are the injured, the exhausted ones, sent back to Kamino to be retrained and fixed, yet they are not broken, merely over-used. They trust you as one of their own, because of your place within the 501st. They will learn easily from you, because they all came through my training courses.

"And you will look, little huntress, for the signs of shadow among them, for there are whispers of nightmares inside their minds, that plague some of our sensitive seers among the Jedi."

"The _Vod'e_ would never be a danger to us!" Ahsoka immediately countered. She didn't mention that she strongly suspected Ventress wasn't an issue any longer.

Shaak Ti held the younger woman's eyes, speaking equal to equal. "They would not choose to, yet much of the creation process, and the training, has been hidden from me. You are of their _aliit_ by their choice; perhaps you can find the mystery before it hurts anyone."

Ahsoka nodded, chewing slowly on the jerky, before looking at the men below. She already missed Rex with all her heart, wished for Fives' easy teasing, or Kix's stern but fair guidance on the welfare of the men. But she would live and move among these men, help them grow better, and teach them all she could. If there was a hidden danger, she would find it.

`~`~`~`~`

Ahsoka hated and loved having men from the 501st come into her battalion. On the one hand, it meant they were too injured for Kix to make well, and that would never set well on Kix's nerves. But it meant having a brother she shared experiences with directly, and that it was Tup, so brave and loyal to the Republic, made her feel a little more warmth for him.

"Hey Tup," she greeted, as she always passed through the new arrivals, often before the med droids could get there and evaluate the case notes. His eyes lit up, but he didn't speak, his head bandaged pretty heavily. She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "You do what the droids say, and I'll be around. I promise."

He brought his hand up and squeezed her wrist, even as he blushed for the light peck of affection. He hadn't known where she'd gone, anymore than the rest of their unit did, but if she was here, everything was going to be fine.

`~`~`~`~`

The comm came in just as Ahsoka had stripped down for bed, but she drew her blanket up and accepted it anyway.

Anakin was there, looking more lost than usual, and she ached for him, opening the training bond a little wider.

"Hey Snips," he said. "Tup make it to you alright?"

"Yes. I saw you went straight back, after the trial, and there was an ambush that he got caught in?"

"That's not all of it, Snips," Anakin said softly. "He was hysterical, and kept trying to get a blaster leveled on me," he said. "His head was pretty badly banged up, but Kix can handle a concussion. It was the way he was acting that made me decide to send him to you. So be careful, but see if you can fix it?"

"I'm not a healer, but I get it." Snips gave him a small grin. "I take it what I'm doing here is well-known to you, who else?"

"Everyone in the new Order; we're doing our best to shuffle the paperwork, hide the men that are missing from units and Kamino both, to give you time to work with them." Anakin scowled darkly. "Finding out the efforts Master Ti has had to go through to protect our _wounded_ from the Kaminoans… it's sickening, Snips. So fix them right, and help them be strong again."

"And find the secret, yeah, I know," she said. "Try and be safe, Skyguy," she said. "And sleep. I'm going to do that now, alright?"

"Alright, Snips. Take care of Tup, and the rest of the _Vod'e_."

The comm cut out, and Ahsoka settled on the cot, the same kind her men slept on, with exactly the same level of comfort; it was less than the truly injured had, even, as she insisted on coddling them with soft mattresses. She considered the case of Tup, and drifted off with it very much in the front of her mind.

`~`~`~`~`

She was in danger; her eyes flashed open in the utter darkness, something that should not be possible, unless the power to her room was completely out, letting the door security be bypassed.

She gave herself over to the more primitive sense of location-placement, using the way sound filled her montrals to guide her on when to move.

Her intruder struck the cot with a blade, as she moved in Force-assisted motion. Before he could recover, she grasped his wrist and buckled his knees with a kick, pinning him on the floor. Bandages softened the impact of his head on the decking, and his Force signature flickered between unknown and 'Tup' for her.

"Oh," she whispered, feeling both confusion and remorse for maybe hurting him further, before the signature ended up as solidly 'Tup' and the trooper began to shake and cry beneath her. "It's okay, Tup; I've got you."

"Tried… to… kill… you," he managed to say in hoarse, struggling words.

"It's not you, but it is something inside you, and we have to figure it out," Ahsoka said with a determined, grim voice. She made sure he was truly unarmed, then gathered her will around her and did something she hated, stealing choice from him by commanding 'sleep' on him. Tup's body went slack, and she dressed quickly, so she could take him to medical to investigate.

`~`~`~`~`

Plo Koon strode through the small compound with Wolffe on his heels, brought by the call of his … cub? That was what the Pack called her, and it amused him. Ahsoka was beginning to shed the gangliness of youth, her cheeks growing thinner as she worked on the mystery and did everything she had been asked. Elsewhere in the Galaxy, the war was struggling on, but neither Anakin Skywalker nor Obi-Wan Kenobi were allowing themselves to be recalled to Coruscant, or sent on missions separate from their men. 

Plo, balancing his duplicity more carefully, had seen Mace Windu react to shatterpoints fading out, and others awakening. It made Plo curious when he had not truly done anything yet, other than open some young minds to the possibility of new ways.

"Ahsoka, I came as quickly as I could," he told her. "I'm due above Cato Neimoidia soon, but your request indicated this was urgent."

She nodded grimly, then held out a simple chip. "We were expecting compulsions, training, something insidious to their minds, when it was technological all along." 

Wolffe took it, frowning, then he looked at her. "The seers?"

Plo had hidden nothing from him, had purposefully tried to push Wolffe to attack him in some fashion, so they could hopefully understand the hidden threat. It hadn't worked, and the pair were more bound than ever by their deep trust for one another.

"Tup attacked me. When I scanned his injuries more closely, I found it. So I scanned a few more men, and found the chip in them. My med droids are working overtime, and if it feels very quiet here, it's because Tup and Lasher, my other head injury who admitted to having flashes of paranoia toward me, suggested I sedate everyone.

"Let me tell you, this is not fun, and I can only pray the Force lets me finish the task before something happens."

Plo nodded. "But you need us to spread the word, probably tend to the medics first, and go from there."

"That's going to be a logistical nightmare," Wolffe growled, and Plo sighed.

"Necessary. I cannot expect the Jedi shadows I placed to hold forever against the Sith. Ahsoka, once your men are recovering start cycling them out with the 212th, the 501st, the 327th, and my own units, would you? Do you have enough transports? We'll need to do that rather than the original plan to train them as Sith counter-troops."

"Yes, and that makes sense. Subbing unchipped men for the ones who need to be operated on; you'll have to get word to their Generals. I just had enough comm interference to get to you unheard, but Kamino could intercept anything I send for the next ten-day and then some," she said, well aware of her precarious logistics on the planetoid.

"I'll get the word passed, and you will get the men protected." Plo gripped both her shoulders. "Windu and Yoda alike are growing edgy, as if events are unfolding with even less warning than they had possessed before. And none of the seers are yet among our numbers. So we are relying on you, to give us a force that can and will fight with us against the Sith."

"I know. I won't fail you, _buir_ ," she said, making Wolffe smile a little bit as the family term came easier for her than 'Master'.

**Author's Note:**

> Vod'e = brotherhood  
> aliit = clan/family  
> buir = parent


End file.
